1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser scanning microscope apparatus configured to irradiate a specimen with a laser beam and obtain luminance information about the specimen.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 2004-360604, 2005-161447, and 2005-162433, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a laser scanning microscope apparatus has been used to irradiate a specimen with a laser beam and obtain luminance information about the specimen in the form of an image. In general, such a laser scanning microscope apparatus is controlled by a computer by executing an application program. The application program requires a complicated process for setting control values for various control items. Accordingly, a laser scanning microscope apparatus that allows control items to be set through a relatively simple input process has been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-172877).
However, the input process for the laser scanning microscope apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-172877 is only capable of determining the execution order of the control items to be set to establish an experimental procedure based on a combination of control values of the control items.